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Why Don’t Nokia Apps Work On Samsung S60 Devices?

By The Guru on April 26, 2008

Surprisingly enough, a few Samsung S60-powered handsets have been making their way onto the scene, and AllAboutSymbian.com has been lucky enough to get to review them.  One thing that I noticed that bothered me, and this was mentioned in the latest Smartphones Show episode, is that apparently, Nokia’s S60 applications such as the Podcasting app and others cannot be installed on these Samsung S60-powered devices.

It’s not clear who’s fault that is, since attempting to install merely gives a ‘certificate not supported’ message. It’s clear, however, that either Samsung does not want to allow Nokia’s applications to run on their handsets, or Nokia doesn’t want their S60 applications to run on non-Nokia hardware. Since we don’t know which is true, let’s look at both…

Let’s assume that Samsung has purposefully limited the Nokia-created S60 applications such as Podcasting and Share Online. This would somewhat make sense, as Nokia *is* a competitor, and you clearly wouldn’t want to promote your competitor on your own device. However, if Samsung is creating S60-powered handsets in the first place, then they’re at least *somewhat* interested in promoting the platform, and disabling certain S60 applications doesn’t really fit with the ‘Open to New Features’ motto that S60 has.

But what if it’s Nokia limiting things, making their applications incompatible with non-Nokia hardware? Again, there are obvious reasons this could make sense, as Nokia is clearly interested in pushing their own products and wanting to create robust applications as a way to enhance their own product line. But in the same thread, S60 is the one suffering, which means that Nokia is suffering as well, with its most popular platform being fragmented. Shouldn’t Nokia want to grow the S60 community, regardless of the device manufacturer?

What do you think? Is it Samsung not wanting Nokia applications to run on its hardware, or is it Nokia wanting to keep its applications Nokia-only, despite having a very large vested interest in seeing the S60 platform continue to grow?

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The Guru

The Guru, aka Ricky Cadden, started Symbian-Guru.com in November 2006, out of his excitement for the S60 3rd Edition version of Symella. The Guru has used Symbian devices since the Nokia 6620, and is known for his perspective as a power user. You can follow The Guru on Twitter at @Rcadden

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  • http://www.phoneboy.com/ PhoneBoy

    Sounds like a good question to be socializing inside S60 Marketing. ;)

  • http://www.phoneboy.com PhoneBoy

    Sounds like a good question to be socializing inside S60 Marketing. ;)

  • http://thesymbianblog.com/ Vaibhav Sharma

    If its Nokia who doesn’t want their apps to run on other s60′s, which I suspect it is, there is a very easy way out.
    Just strongly brand the applications and distribute them freely, they’ll be great advertising tools and free of cost too!

  • http://thesymbianblog.com Vaibhav Sharma

    If its Nokia who doesn’t want their apps to run on other s60′s, which I suspect it is, there is a very easy way out.
    Just strongly brand the applications and distribute them freely, they’ll be great advertising tools and free of cost too!

  • pete

    Well this might be just a design flaw actually. Nokia is signing the apps with its root cert and it is not installed to samsung devices. I don’t think it is done intentionally. Same problem is with SDK tools e.g. ecmt and trk.

  • http://nztechfreak.vox.com/ NZtechfreak

    So, the obvious question is whether hacked Samsung phones will allow the Nokia apps to be installed?

  • http://nztechfreak.vox.com NZtechfreak

    So, the obvious question is whether hacked Samsung phones will allow the Nokia apps to be installed?

  • ks60

    These errors are just showing the flaws of a OS that should be extinguished by a truly OPEN OS like android. I think s60 has seen it’s time come and go. WM is getting more mature and user-friendly…and with the Xperia, it might finally have some sex appeal. Android will be coming from the other end.

    I would love to see a “universal” standard for cell phones as there is in the PC. But that may be some years away…aww wishful thinking indeed.

  • ks60

    These errors are just showing the flaws of a OS that should be extinguished by a truly OPEN OS like android. I think s60 has seen it’s time come and go. WM is getting more mature and user-friendly…and with the Xperia, it might finally have some sex appeal. Android will be coming from the other end.

    I would love to see a “universal” standard for cell phones as there is in the PC. But that may be some years away…aww wishful thinking indeed.

  • http://mobileministrymagazine.com/ Antoine of MMM

    I would think that if Nokia’s implementation of S60 is not working with Samsung’s, then shouldn’t that me something that the S60/Symbian body be addressing? Is there some kinds of checks and balances about a base level of compatibility that apps should have?

    And for the sake of argument; if it is just an issue of certificates, then who controls the certificates that verify apps, developers, manufacturers, S60, or Symbian?

  • http://mobileministrymagazine.com Antoine of MMM

    I would think that if Nokia’s implementation of S60 is not working with Samsung’s, then shouldn’t that me something that the S60/Symbian body be addressing? Is there some kinds of checks and balances about a base level of compatibility that apps should have?

    And for the sake of argument; if it is just an issue of certificates, then who controls the certificates that verify apps, developers, manufacturers, S60, or Symbian?

  • http://synthesis.williamgunn.org/ Mr. Gunn

    Nokia should start signing the apps with a cross-platform cert and see if the problem goes away. They should be doing that anyways, right?

  • http://synthesis.williamgunn.org Mr. Gunn

    Nokia should start signing the apps with a cross-platform cert and see if the problem goes away. They should be doing that anyways, right?

  • ray

    are we seeing similar things on LG’s s60 phones as well?

    if yes, then we’ll know the answer of whether it’s Nokia’s or Samsung’s fault rite?

    anyone with phone belonging to a brand other than these two that is running on s60 phones? can u try to run a Nokia’s app and see if u get the same error?

    if yes, then is Nokia’s fault clearly,

    else, then is Samsung’s fault clearly.

  • ray

    are we seeing similar things on LG’s s60 phones as well?

    if yes, then we’ll know the answer of whether it’s Nokia’s or Samsung’s fault rite?

    anyone with phone belonging to a brand other than these two that is running on s60 phones? can u try to run a Nokia’s app and see if u get the same error?

    if yes, then is Nokia’s fault clearly,

    else, then is Samsung’s fault clearly.

  • pete

    Well this might be just a design flaw actually. Nokia is signing the apps with its root cert and it is not installed to samsung devices. I don't think it is done intentionally. Same problem is with SDK tools e.g. ecmt and trk.

  • pete

    Well this might be just a design flaw actually. Nokia is signing the apps with its root cert and it is not installed to samsung devices. I don't think it is done intentionally. Same problem is with SDK tools e.g. ecmt and trk.

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